FAREWELL TO A GOOD FRIEND

I have posted a younger picture of Betty Huffmon as seen on the flaps of books she and I have written together. I have been receiving e-mails from people in Alaska as a reaction to her passing and they all have been a reminder of how fortunate I have been to have her as a personal friend and writing partner.

Betty was the first Yup'ik teacher in Alaska. After working with me at the Bilingual Education Center in Bethel, she later directed the Bilingual/Bicultural Center under LKSD, first as part of a team to make Yup'ik a first language in some of the delta schools and then to create a second language program in other villages in western Alaska. She and I met 35 years ago and lived across the dirt road in the luxurious trailer court of Bethel, Alaska.

There are so many things that I have learned from working with her. But most of them can be summed up in one sentence. "There is something good in everyone." She has woven together a Yup'ik family whose mother owned her own reindeer herds, a French Canadian father who was an entrepeneur in trading along the rivers and coasts of Western Alaska, boarding school living and an exquisite knowledge of the rest of the world and how important language is.

Betty told me the story of THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE. It is the story of a little boy who is sent out to hunt food for himself and his grandmother, but eats everything himself. When the story was told to Betty, the little boy pops as he comes into the hut through the eye of grandmother's needle. Betty said that since this is not a time of starvation in the village the lesson did not need to be harsh. Instead we created the universal, loving grandmother who draws out the good from the little boy named Amik.

Later we created BERRY MAGIC from a snippet of a story she remembered. It is the story of how the different kinds of berries came to grow on the tundra. Both of us liked the idea that good ideas lead to good results if you act on them and can create a little magic. Collaboration between us, between two cultures, two generations and two different minds often took 5 years but led us to learn the value of finding a common voice. We were working on a rewrite of THE GHOST FISH when she died. I hope her voice will still work with mine to finish the story.

For anyone visiting the Anchorage area, she has made the largest individual donation ever given to them of over 500 artifacts (furs, ivory, trading beads, dolls and baskets.

My thank you goes to her family who let me accompany them to take Betty to Goodnews Bay for her burial and feast. It was wonderful to watch as everyone in the village welcomed her home for her final resting place.

With Betty leaving, it is my hope, and I am sure it is Betty's as well, that more writers from Alaska will come forward and write for children and that more of the folklore and everyday stories will see their way into trade book form to share with the rest of the world.

A YEAR OF CREATION

There was an old man who painted the sky,
But I don't know how he painted the sky.
It's up so high!

These are the opening words from my next book, THERE WAS AN OLD MAN WHO PAINTED THE SKY. It is beautifully illustrated by Stefano Vitale and will be out in the spring. The inspiration for the book was the fact that it was a child who discovered the first cave art in Spain, and it was teenagers who brought the Lescaux Caves in France to the world's attention. The sense of wonder and curiousity that young people have is something our society must continue to honor. If I were a non-fiction writer I'm sure I would have pounced on the story of the young girl, Maria and her father, and how the discovery changed their lives. But my mind works in a different way and it became a song parody of creation and the discovery of cave art.
If you are fascinated by the history of cave art, one of my favorite books from last year is THE CAVE PAINTERS, by Gregory Curtis.

So as 2009 begins, let's welcome in the new. It feels like a year to be creating a new future for ourselves as well as the children coming behind us...and often leading us into new discoveries. My only resolution is to embrace technology as a friend that can enhance my creativity. So I will be starting an Adobe Illustrator class at our local college.

And I don't want to throw out the old. Last year was a building block for many new ideas. To start with my grandson has opened a whole new world of discovery. My nephew, Mike Sloat worked with me and animated a short clip that I will post. As always, I found it a thrill, even in the rough stages to put music and art together. I am using the animation to help me form a book....any tool that helps, is my motto. Finally, last year was a year of gallery art. Many days and weekends of plein air painting, art classes, and putting my own folk art into print, my first art shows in Alaska as well as shows here in Sonoma County.

2008 ended with the loss of my dear friend and co-writer, Betty Huffmon. Betty and I have worked together on bi-lingual projects and have been friends for 35 years. She told me the story for THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE, and co-authored BERRY MAGIC with me. Her family graciously invited me to the village for her burial in Goodnews Bay, Alaska, and while it was a time of saying good-bye in December, it is her thoughts that I will begin the new year with. Betty, who always kept her sense of wonder, taught me to keep the parts you liked from the past and build on them for the future, and never to forget to notice the small things around you. Sounds like a good way to start the new year.